Hot Singles ! - Pictures

[C.G. 125]

William,
You sold me this Boat after one of the Berghauer's broke it. I had Al Martin (Zonkercraft builder) repair it and I ran it in St. Louis one year..Came in second behind Earl. Good running boat. Don't remember the size..

[Beale]

First picture of 138 appears to have U class engine. Second picture a BP in UI. 1042 Allison from Dorchester Marine, appears to have an 85, G Production.

[John Schubert]

Thank you for the confirmation on the boat and the race results, we appreciate the info.

The Berghauers .....After Merten became Manager of OPC Racing, he and the Berghauers, Denny & Duey, became very good friends, "thick as thieves" I believe the expression goes. I don't know if Garbrecht wanted to continue to work with them or not, but Mert seemed to be very protective of those guys. Always seemingly working an angle to get them more and better equipment.

I see from the Eufaula photos that they had three boats entered! The 17' Molinari that they did win Parker with that year, a 16' Molinari sprint and the other "pug- ugly" Twistercraft sprint, some pretty nice stuff!

When all of the "support" boats were pulled from Mert at Racing and assigned to me at Hi Performance that year, the Berghauers decided not to come! It wasn't like they had an option, they just didn't report to Hi Perf. Instead, they continued to work on what they had, the two Molinari's, on the side with Merten. Garbrecht knew about it, but chose to ignore the situation.

I was in Oshkosh visiting Bob Hetzel several years ago. Denny happened to stop by Bob's home and we chatted. He asked me to go to his house so that I could say "Hi" to his wife Evie. On the way over he asked me why I wouldn't give him any support back in that 73 time frame. I told him that he never gave me a chance to, that when he didn't report to Hi Perf and I was being told of parts that were going out the back door for him through Mert, I just wrote them off. I wasn't going to help or hurt, they could figure out what they were going and how they were going to do it on their own. He indicated that he was told that I wasn't going to support him if he did show. Told him someone had fed him a line of crap and he should have talked to me directly. I'm happy to say we are still friends today.[IMG]

The 17' Molinari, #138 Denny, guessing it ran in "S" .....



The 16' Molinari sprint, #138 Denny, Sports J or UI.....



The Twistercraft, #139 Duey (behind the #1042 Allison), probably ran in "U".....

WOW, they were friends of mine from SO racing, never knew they were in the inner circle.

[Mark Poole ModVP]

Boat at the top of the pic, Baja with a Super Strangler....blowover waiting to happen. On the right, the Stinger GP looks like it is on a Stinson tunnel with the low profile rear cowl. That would have been a fast boat if the guy could handle it. Cool pics!

[willabee]

At age 71 how did I become a Junior Member?....

..... .....

[willabee]

William,
You sold me this Boat after one of the Berghauer's broke it. I had Al Martin (Zonkercraft builder) repair it and I ran it in St. Louis one year..Came in second behind Earl. Good running boat. Don't remember the size..

Bugs me that I don't remember that! In any event, we had two, maybe three identical 17'ers, all of them white. I know Jackie doesn't think Molinari ever built any "identical" boats, but these looked and ran like they were twin sisters. You're spot on, they were very good running boats.

You probably bought the first one pictured below. Although it has Duey's #139 on it, it was raced by Cees van der Velden at Havasu in 72. Cees, who had a reputation as "one of the best rough water drivers in the world" managed to blow it over while leading on Sunday! That is probably what Al Martin had to repair, the damage from that flip.






The #138, a twin to the #139, was driven by the Berghauer brothers at Havasu 72. There was no damage and they ran it to a victory at Parker 73.

[C.G. 125]

Bill, It bugs me too that my memory for details is gone. All I can remember was "Old Berghauer boat". What a Caddy ride after a few years in the Zonkercrafts..

[willabee]

What a Caddy ride after a few years in the Zonkercrafts..

I bet it was, probably didn't sit nearly as "puckered" as you did in the Zonker. Sirois, Stickle, Hering, and Downard are among the others that raced those boats. Never heard anyone say anything but good stuff about how they ran.

Hell, just remembered I even ran one with your buddy Morgan sitting just behind me on the cowl. Even he commented that it was a nice ride until we went past the 50ish mark! As I recall, he got pretty noisey around 70, so I figured I'd better back off before I had a coronary problem grabbing for my throat.

BTW .... I've noticed that you're getting as "chatty" as the ol' curmudgeon Wilson. You're up to 33 posts since 2009, an average of about 8 per year and you just posted on back to back days!

Here's another group of "Hot Shoes" at Eufaula .....

[C.G. 125]

If I get that "Chatty" tell me and I'll stop

[C.G. 125]

Bill, That last shot looks like St louis. I remember that corner. I spent a week in the hospital there because of it or my inability to make it..

[willabee]

WOW, they were friends of mine from SO racing, never knew they were in the inner circle.

They were, especially in the 72/75ish time frame. Garbrecht and I went to a Milwaukee/Chicago race in 68 or 69, think the Berghauers were running a Souter with twin Evinrudes. Sometime after that race Gary persuaded them to switch. First boat I remember them having was a single Jones. Compared to our Molinari's, it didn't run worth a sh-t. But, Denny won St. Mary's with it after our Molinari's either broke or blew over. What there was for OMC entrys didn't fair any better. That was the type of equipment he got when Gary was Manager of OPC Racing, never new or the best. However, Denny was among the drivers selected for Paris in 70. They were close enough to be invited to our company Christmas partys.

It was during Mert's tenure as Manager of OPC Racing that they received more and better equipment. I wasn't privy to the decision making process, but I'm sure it was Mert that decided that Duey would run the Twistercraft "Lil Blue" to set the "U" kilo mark. The boat wasn't really assigned to anyone, so their friendship became the deciding factor on who would get the opportunity. Hering and Spalding were working for Merc at the time and Hering got the shot at the "S" record. Don't know how Bob felt about not getting the nod for the "U" attempt.

Back to Eufaula, Buck Thorton was among the competitors. I'm trying to remember what hull he drove at the time ..... does the name Broughton sound right? If I remember correctly, he was getting his own boats and Merc was helping with the power and props. Always liked Buck, he was a gentleman and a tough competitor. He always appreciated a little assistance and always said thank you.







This looks like #119 Kenny Kitson, in an earlier design of his Kitsoncraft, running up on a Scatcraft ..... more UI action?

[2us70]

Buck Thornton is in a McCall in that picture. If you look closely at the edge of the deck you will see John's logo. I was at Eufala that year.the only Nationals I ever ran not in a McCall. Ran 2nd in SE and DQed in SG. Both in Action Marine boats.

[Mark75H]

Buck Thornton is in a McCall in that picture. If you look closely at the edge of the deck you will see John's logo. I was at Eufala that year.the only Nationals I ever ran not in a McCall. Ran 2nd in SE and DQed in SG. Both in Action Marine boats.

It indeed does have the McCall logo. Probably the most 'conventional' McCall I remember seeing in any picture

[2us70]

John's boats of that vintage had that look. The boat that Bobby Drewery beat me with that year looked like a smaller kneel down version. I have a picture on my computer of what I think is that boat but I cant seem to get it to attach.

[willabee]

It indeed does have the McCall logo. Probably the most 'conventional' McCall I remember seeing in any picture

mbd29 (Butler) sent me an email before you two posted and said it is a McCall. I responded with "I don't recall a good 'sit-down' McCall". Then you two said it's a McCall, so McCall it is ..... and I still don't recall a good sit-down McCall!

Back to Eufaula, here is a shot probably from the drivers meeting. Dick Sherrer with Mary West on his right. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think Dick got as much credit as he deserved. He was not only a good, steady driver, but he could build boats, set them up and work on his own engines. Very few in this game were capable of performing all of those tasks well.

Mary was the promoter behind the Provo 250 races. It was she that decided to let those outlaw, big cube rogue rotarys into the 73 race. She also covered OPC for Powerboat for a couple of years. Come to think of it, that's probably why she decided in favor of admitting the rotary .... her employer made her the ol' "offer she couldn't refuse"!






Here we have a meeting of the minds to decide what the engine timing really is ..... looks like the top of Beier's head, Shunk on the left & LaMore on the right.